A wide range of vacuum cleaners are available on the market and include upright cleaners, stick vac cleaners, cylinder cleaners and hand-held cleaners. A cylinder vacuum cleaner normally has a main body containing a motor and fan assembly for drawing an airflow into the main body and separating apparatus for separating dirt and dust from the airflow. The separating apparatus may take the form of, for example, a cyclonic separator, a bag or a filter. A hose and wand assembly is connected to the main body and a floor tool is attached to the end of the wand remote from the main body so that it can be maneuvered across the surface to be cleaned. A range of floor tools are often supplied so that a user can choose an appropriate tool for their cleaning task; for example a crevice tool or a brush tool.
Many upright vacuum cleaners are provided with releasable hoses or wands so that they are able to operate in the manner of a cylinder machine. Floor tools are thus often provided with upright machines as well.
Handheld vacuum cleaners are provided with a nozzle which may be rigid or flexible. A range of floor tools may be supplied so that a user can choose an appropriate tool for their cleaning task.
Floor tools generally comprise a head having a lower surface, commonly known as a soleplate. A suction opening is formed in the soleplate through which, in use, dirt and dust is drawn into the floor tool from the floor surface. It is useful for the head to be pivotally connected to the sole plate so that the head or the soleplate can rock back and forth as the floor tool is pushed and pulled across the floor surface. The rocking motion allows the suction opening to remain in close proximity to the floor surface when the floor tool is pushed or pulled across the floor surface. The rocking motion is particularly advantageous on carpeted surfaces because it can cause parts of the soleplate to agitate the carpet.
Although agitation is desirable in most instances, a problem can arise with such floor tools, namely that as the floor tool is pulled backwards along a floor surface the rearward floor contacting edge of the sole plate can act as a pivot point against the floor. In some circumstances the cleaner head will pivot about this rearward floor contacting edge causing the cleaner head to “skip” backwards. This problem can be more apparent on long pile carpets because as the floor tool starts to pivot about the pivot point the rearward floor contacting edge of the sole plate can dig into the carpet pile causing more skipping. A solution to this problem is therefore desirable.
Existing arrangements illustrating floor tools which attempt to deal with this problem are shown in EP 0353546, EP 0304609 and WO 03/039315.
EP 0353546 discloses a floor tool which has a set of floor-engaging wheels and a soleplate. The duct connecting the head to the wand has a pivot point located directly above the axis of the wheels so that, when a user pushes forward on the wand, a downwardly-acting moment about the axis of the wheels pushes the soleplate onto the floor surface. EP 0304609 discloses a floor tool having a complicated arrangement of pivots which forces the head of the floor tool to rock back and forth when the floor tool is pushed back and forth across a floor surface. WO 03/039315 discloses a floor tool having a connecting duct which is pivoted in two locations relative to the soleplate.
In order to operate effectively, the above arrangements all require complicated and therefore expensive pivot point arrangements. Consequently, a more simple solution to the problem of skipping would be desirable.